Safety device for railways.



No. 853,886. PATENTED MAY 14, 1907.

' 0. FHKLOETZER & W. A. BORDERS.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR R AILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9, 1906.

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PATENTED MAY 14,1907. .0. P. KLOETZER & W. A. BORDERS. SAFETY DEVICE FOR BAILWAYS.

man-mass APPLICATION FILED Nov. 9, 1906.

anveutow IMA.BOI'&ZQS z 2 r l attM muA 853386 PATENI'ED MATH, 1907. so. P. KLOETZER & W. A. BORDERS SAFETY DEVICE. FOHRAILWAYS.

APPLHIOATION FILED NOV. 9, 1906.

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STATES .JPATENT O FIOE- OTTO 1i- KLOETZER' AND WILLIAM A. BORDERS, OF WASHINGTON, INDIANA,

ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD To CHARLES GARDINER, or WASHING- y Y TON, INDIANA.

the county of Daviessand State of 'ndiana,

have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices-for Railways;

-' and we do hereby declare the fol-lewing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inj; vention, such as will enable others skilled in the art'towliciritappeftains m and use thesame.-

useful. improvements'in safety devices for ra ys- The e what isknown as f side-swiping? orrunning zi'c in to'open switches.

Our device is adapted fonan form ofconstruction inwhich air, brakes "are used, as in the preferred form of our invention, the construction is adapted to'operate directly upon the air brake. It be obvious however, that certain features of our construction can E be used in. connection with devices other than airbrakes.

'With these objects in consists in'constructin a track, the rails of which are divided into locks insulated from "each other, and locating between the tracks a air'of conductors which are also divided.

Into blocks. The trains are provided with an electriccurrent supplyingmeans and a means adapted to receive the current from the track, which current is supplied to the tracks by another train. 1

Referring to the drawings wherein we show the referred forrnof our invention and wherein t e same part is designated by the same reference numeral'wherever it occurs,

Figure 1 1s a diagrammatic vlew ota section of track constructed'ln accordance with our gshowing gthe switch constructionon a larger scale. ;Fig.]3'1s a V1eW of a'locomotive showing diagrammatically our invention applied L I I thereto.

ontacts which are mounted-on 'diag'rarnmaticyiew showthe 11' controlling valvefgi its electro- SAFETY DEVICE Fen FAILW AY S.

I: l pecification of Letters Patent. tietam m Ilovember 9, 1906. Serial o. 342.680. 7

f I bject of our invention is to provide a onstructionwh ch will prevent either head- ,Qn or'rear-end collisions between trains, or

v ie w,nthe invention invention. Fig. 215s view similar to Fig. 1,

4 is a diagrammatic view Fig. 5 is a perspective VLGW" he. o 'nta'cts" which runs on the a'g'iiet hrid cifcuits for contrdlii'ng the same.

Patented. m 14,1 90? Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, showing the circuit when the switch is in the other posi- .tion from that shown in Fig. 6.

The rails 11, of'the trackxonwhich the trains run are divided into sections by means of the insulations 22. These-insulations I are preferably located opposite each other in the opposite rails of the track and are separated a distance apart equal to one-half the length of a block. A

v 1- between, the ralls 1, and are connectedin Qur mventlon relates to certamnew and.

'lengths equal to the length Ofa block. xAt -the ends of each block these rails are prefer-1 ably separated in order to insulate the conductor rails of each block from the rails of the adjacent blocks. The ends of the conductor-rails 3 are connected by means of wires 4 to the track rail of the next section be minates, as is clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and'2 'Of the drawings. From this construction, it will be fseen that when a current is supplied to the conductor rails in a given block, "at any point therein, the current can be taken from the track rails of the next adjacent blocks.

For the sake ofillustration, we willdescribe Our invention in connection with a steam locomotive, but it is to be understood 8 5 that the same may be applied to an electric car, an electric locomotive, or similar engine.

5 designates a locomotive of ordinary construction provided 'with the ordinary air brake system, the -engineersvalve of which go is designated at 6 and the pipe carrying train pressure at 7.

8 designates a valve chest" which is connected to the train pipe'by means of the connecting pipe 9'. 1 5 Referring particularly to Figs. 6 and 7, 10 designates an exhaust port to the open en of which is connected a whistle 11..

12 designates-a slide valve adapted to 3 will'be seen thatthe 'magnet -17' fwheri ei 1 gized' will move the valve 12to?the pos1t1o 38 are conductor rails which arelocatfed yond that at which'theconductor rail ter- 75 cover the exhaust port 10, the slide valve be one end of an armature *1 6, "of airnagnet 1.7 r 05 are; 16 at 118. From this construction I,

shown in'Fig: 6, opening theeithaust portand' we let tifiedas soon as the valve 12 has been moved ofi the exhaust port.

19 'and 2Q are thewiresleadingfrom the electro-niagriet 17 the wire 19 extending to a post 21 of a double'throw switch 22.

. 23 is a wire leading from the post 24oft-he switch 22-. This post can be connectedto the post 21 by means of the switch. 'The wires 20 and 23 lead down to a brushes 25 in contact with the wheels 26 which run upon the'track rails 1. As shown, each of these wheels 26 is mounted in a bracket 27 pivoted to a lug 28 extending out from the rear of the cow-catcher. The brackets 27 are each provided With 'an upwardly extending arm 29, and 30 is a spring located between the-rear-of the cow-catcher and the arm 29' to force the wheel in contact with the rail.. Each of the brushes 25, as shown, is mounted in an extending arm 31 of the bracket 27 and 32; is a spring-wound around the upper end of the brush, one end of whichrests against one of the rojections on the bracket and the otherlagalnst a suitable lug or projection on the portion of the brush orshoe125 holding the same in. contact with theiwheel 26.;- .By' this construction, if 1 there is a current in the track rails over which the; engine passing, the current will be picked up by the wheels 26 and conducted to the magnet 17-=which will be energizedfland will'operateto move thevalve 12 to. uncover, the exhaust port 510, releasing the air in the train pipe a'ndjapplying' the brakes 33 is a pair of wheels mountedin the arms 34, ivoted to a rock shaft '35 from which exten s an a'rm'36 connected by a rod 37 to a lever 38 pivoted at39in the cab. By means of the lever 38, the wheels 33 can be raised and lowered by the engineer when desired. These wheels"33"run upon the sectional conductor rails 33.

.- 40 is a brush mounted in each of the arms- 34 and in contactwith the wheels 33,

42 is a battery suitably located on theen gine, as for instance, under the running board 43, one pole of which is connected to one of the wheels 33 and the. other pole of which is connected-to the other wheel 33 by means of the wires 60. By this means, cur rent from the battery is constantly supplied to the sectional conductor rails 3. It being rememberedthat these sectional conductorv rails are connected by the wires 4 to the track rails of the adjacent blocks, it will be seen that when a locomotive is onxone of the blocks, should another locomotive come on the. adjacent block, current will pass from the battery '42',throu gh the wheels 33 to the sectional conductor rails .3, through the wires 4 to the track'rails 2-to the wheels 26,:throngh pair of the posts 21 and 24 is broken,'it will'be comthe wires 20 and 23 to the electro-magnet,

operate the electro-magnet and open. the

exhaust valve. It will consequently be seen that the emergency brake -on each of the trains which come on adjacent blocks will be set and the train stopped. -In consequence -of this, it will be impossiblefor two trains to come within a distance which is less than the length of one block from each other, being stopped by having their brakes applied.

In order to permit the engineer of a train to move his train after the brakes have been set, we referably provide the switch 22 by which t e engineer can break the circuit to the magnet 17, thus releasing the armature 16' and permitting the valve 12 to move back under the influence of the s ring 14 and cover the exhaust port" 10. l i'efe'rably, we

provide a signal which will continue to operate as long as this circuit is broken so that the engineer by no chance can forget to rese t-he apparatus in operative position. As shown, this signal consists of a ell 44 located in the cab having a wire 45 extending therefrom to a battery 46. The wire 47 extends from the battery to a'po'st 48 on the other side of the double throw switch 22. 49 is another wire 'from the'bell leading to-the other post 50 of .the switch. This switch is preferably so constructed that as soon as'the circuit between pleted betweenthe posts 48 and 50, and con- 'sequently, one circuitor the other will be "always established. From this constriiction,

it will be seen that as long as the switch is out'of contact with the posts 21 and 24 and consequently in contact'with the posts 48 and 50, the signal 44-will continue to perate.

By the track construgition heretofore described,we provided against either a head-on or tail-end collision and in order to prevent side-swiping by a car 01' engine drifting onto the main line from a siding, we preferably rovide the sidings with the 'construc-' tion s ownin'Figs. 1 and-.2. From the construction shown, it will be seen that sectional conductor rails 3 are located between the rails .of the switch or siding and that these conductor rails are electrically connected with the conductor rails 3 of the mainline, In other words, the sectional conductor rails of the main line havea switchconstruction at the point at which the switch from the main line is formed. The sectional conductors of' the switch, by being connected to the conductors of the main line, cause them to act as In addition to this, We providea construetion whereby, should the switch not be fully closed, a train approaching from either direction'on the mainline will bestopped at the adjacent block. As shown, thisjconstruction consistsof a battery 51 which is connected to a pair of contacts 52 mounted upon the switch operating rod 53. These contacts, as shown in Fi s. 1 and 2 are so ositioned on the switc rod as to be out 0 contact with the sectional conductor rails when the main line is clear, but to be in contact with the sectional conductor rails 3 of the main line sholild the oint of the switch be separated from the rai of the main line. 'From this con- 1 5 struction, it will .be seen that a current will be supplied to theadjacent, block sections of the mainline froin tlie' battery '51 as long as the switch of the sidingis open." v

While We have'described ,the'use of batteries as a source of current, we desire to have Having thus described our invention,- what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letv.ters Patent is: v

1. A safety a pliance for railways, com- 4 prising track rai s divided in blocks, sectional 3 5 conductor rails, divided into blocks, electrical connections connecting each block of the' sectional conductor rails with the blocks of the track rails which are located on each side of the blocks of the sectional conductor rails,

40 a pair of contacts carried by the train and contacting with the track rails, a second pair of contacts also carried by the train and contacting with the sectional conductor rails, a source of electric current connected with one pair of contacts, an electro-lnagnet connected to the other pair of contacts, and means for stopping thetrain operated by saidv electro-magnet.

' 2. A safety appliance for railways corn.-

5o prising track'rails divided in blocks, sectional conductor rails divided in blocks, electrical connections connecting each block of the sectional conductor rails with the blocks of the track rails which are located on each side of 5 5 the blocks of the sectional conductor rails,

a pair of contacts carried by. the train and contacting with the track rails, a second pair of contacts also carried by the train and cons tacting with the sectional conductor rails, a

source of electric currentconnected with one pair of contacts, an electro-magnet connected tothe other pair of contacts, and means for giving a signal to the engineer, operated by said electro-magnett 3'. A safety appliance. for railways, comit understood that any other sourcebf elec prising track rails divided into blocks sectional conductor rails divided into blocks of twice the length of the track rail bloc-ks. electrical connections connectin each block of the sectional conductor rai s with the blocks of the/track rails which are located on each side of the blocks of the sectional eon ductor rails, a pair of contacts carried by the train and contacting with the track rails,"a second pair of contacts also carried by the" trainand contacting with the sectional conductor rails, a source of electric current con-' nected with one pair'of contacts, an electromagnet connected to the other pair of con tacts, and means for stopping the train operated by said. electro-magnet.

4, A safety appliance for railways, comprising track rails divided into blocks, sectionaliconductor rails divided into blocks, electrical connections connecting each block of thesectional"conductorrails with the blocks of, the track rails which are located on each side of the blocks of the sectional conductor rails, a pair of contacts carried by the train and contacting with the track rails, a pair of contacts connected with each switch rod and adapted to contact with the sectionalconductor rails when the-switch is open and a source of electric-current connected with said contacts on the switch rod.

5. A safety appliance for railways, comprising track rails divided into blocks, sec tional conductor .rails divided into blocks the sectional conductor rails being connected. to the track rails of adjacent blocks and we means carried by the tr'ain for delivering a current of electricity to the conductor rails and receiving a current from the track rails.

6. A safety appliance for railways, comprising track rails divided into blocks, sec- :05 tional conductor rails divided into blocks, electrical connections connectingeach block of the sectional conductor rails with the blocks of the track'rails which are located on each side of' the blocks of the sectional conr to I ductor rails, a pair of contacts carried by the train and contacting with the track rails, a

second pair of contacts also carried b I the train and contacting wlt'h the s'ectiona con-- ductor rails; a source of electric current con- 11 5 nected with one pair of contacts, an electromagnet connected to the other pair of contacts, an air brake mechanism on the train and a valve on the air brake mechanism connected to the electro-Inagnet and adapted'lzo tofbe operated thereby, whereby when the magnet is energized the valve will be opened and the brakes applied.

7. A safety appliance for railways, comprising track rails divided into blocks, sec- 12 5 tional 'conductor rails divided into blocks, a pair of contacts carried by the train and con-- tacting with the track rails, a second pair of contacts also carried by the train and contacting with the sectional conductor rails, a 1gb" ,soqxcg: of electric current connected with one of contacts, an elec'trO-magnet connect- ;bdkto the otherpair of contacts, a swit ch in the In testimony whereof We afiix our signatures,'1n presenqe of two witnesses.

OTTO F. KLOETZER. clrcu-lti sald electro-magnet, an electrically 5 operated alarm, said switch being adapted, ILLIAM BORDERS 1301 close the circuit of the alarm mechanism Witnesses:

when itis thrown to open the circuit to the- WVILLI R. GARDINER, elgctro-magnet.

J. EARLE THOMPSON. 

